7 Wonders - Cities

Our latest expansion (there is a newer one out there we haven't purchased yet) for the most played games in our collection arrived a couple of weeks ago; 7 Wonders - Cities.

I was so excited about this expansion that I spent time ahead of our first game going through the components, sleeving the cards and reading the rules (again as I had read them online prior to buying it).  One odd thing I found is that I received two less -1 debt tokens than it stated in the rules, and instead got two -1 conflict tokens it didn't mention; maybe just an edition thing?  Anyways, in all the games I have played so far we have never come close to needing all the debt tokens it comes with.  Every thing fit perfectly into the organizer (see post on it here), with still lots of room left.

My wife and I played a game not long after that, with just the base game + cities, with the two new wonders, just to get a feel for it.  I ended up with Petra, while my wife played with Byzantium.  One of the first things I noticed is that my focus on the coins grew very quickly; many of the black cards cost coins, my second wonder stage cost 9 coins, and I was paranoid about the debt cards.  It also didn't help that before we started playing with cities I often found myself with very few coins (something about my playing style, still haven't exactly pinpointed why).  I enjoyed the new flavor that the black cards added, and I appreciated the fact that they added without really changing the game too much.

Our first Cities game (from my wife's side of the board)

Recent Gaming - Dominion: Cornucopiua, Suburbia, Ticket to Ride: Europe and 7 Wonders

After a period of very little gaming (sometimes life just gets busy) we have had an opportunity to play a few games lately.

I received Dominion's Cornucopia expansion as a gift, and over the last couple of weeks we have been playing through the recommended card sets found in it's rules.  These are sets that pair with the original Dominion and the Intrigue set.  I recall seeing recommended sets in the rulebooks for some of the later expansions for pairing with Cornucopia, but I am not sure if we will play them.  With only 13 new kingdom cards, and each recommended set having 5 of them, I feel that we have had ample opportunity to see how they work.  Next is probably back to random sets, with the new cards included.

One of the recommended kingdom card sets from Cornucopia

Christmas Gaming - New Game!

Christmas and New Years holidays often lead to a lot of gaming for me.  Time off, not so nice weather and a lot of planned visiting are probably the primary reasons.  This is the first time in a few years that I haven't had a couple of weeks off, so we will have to see how true this holds.

This is also a time I often receive new games as my family knows I like boardgames.   I never know what I am going to get, but I have also dropped hints here and there as to what new games I am eyeing.  This past weekend we had a Christmas gathering, and one of the gifts I received was Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries.

My collection already includes Ticket to Ride (original North America map), Ticket to Ride: USA 1910, Ticket to Ride: Europe, and Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 2 – India & Switzerland.  The original, European and Swiss map are played regularly in our house, and most often as a 2-player game, so another smaller (max 3-player) map is exciting.  I am also of Nordic descent, so there is a thematic bonus as well, which I am sure wasn't lost on the gift giver.

Although we have played Ticket to Ride many times, and I have played this map a couple of times in the past with some friends, I decided to scan the rules before we played, and I am glad I did.  There are a couple of differences in the rules from the other versions we have around the wilds (can only be used on tunnels and ferries) and being able to use groups of cards as wild (on ferries and on one specific route).  I wasn't so sure about these rules but decided to try them for the first few games before modifying them if necessary.

After first game

Crop Cycle - A Review

Due to my blog focusing on casual gaming and having a Canadian prospective I was approached (through Board Game Geek) with an opportunity to review a new game that is currently on kickstarter.  Although I have never done this before, I jumped at the opportunity to try a new game.

The game is called Crop Cycle and it is a "Take That" style farming game.  It is designed for 2-5 players, but due to a short time with the game (it was needed for further play testing) we only played with 2 (my wife and I).  There are a couple of great reviews out there already that explain the gameplay (including the videos on the kickstarter page) so I am going to focus instead on our experience with the game.

A sampling of the game components

As this was my first time reviewing a game I wanted to make sure that I knew how to play before we ever opened the box, just to try and make sure we played it right.  I downloaded the rulebook, read through that, and then worried even more.  Its too simple.  I must be missing something.  So I watched the video on the kickstarter page, and also watched another preview.  I found that the repetition helped me confirm that I was understanding the rules, but they didn't really add much more.  When we sat down to play I explained the rules to my wife using the rulebook only, and then we started into our first game.  I quickly realized that I was worried for no good reason; the game mechanics really are that simple, and it is the cards and interactions that add the depth.

There are currently no "Take That" style games in our collection, but for no particular reason.  We just seem to have and play a lot of "middle length" games, ones in the 30-90 minutes type range, and we seem to enjoy the more strategic type games.  It took the first couple of games to even get used to the change in pace, and in having limited options to choose from each turn.  That being said, there was definitely opportunities where a choice had to be made, so there was more to it than luck of the cards.  Each round only took us 15-20 minutes and sometimes the 5 harvest point win condition seemed to come too soon, especially because the 5 points for the winner could come in short order even if they were behind up to that point.  I think that is fitting with the game style, but we noted that it would be really easy to simply play to higher point total (we were thinking 7 or 8), but didn't get a chance to try it.

Near the end of the game, where we both have some points and crops in the field

A game where we both have 0 points, but enough in the field to end it very quickly

I really wished that we could of had the opportunity to play more players; from the cards we saw it was evident that it would scale well, and would be even more "take that" type plays, which might also make the 5 harvest point win condition more appropriate.

The farming theme is integrated into the game very well; plant your crops, have them modified by various factors like pests, fertilizer, weather, etc. and then harvest them.  From what little I know of farming (I have worked in the agricultural sector but am not a farmer) the crops seem realistic (in terms of seasons, relative value) and the utility cards seem appropriate in terms of the options and issues a farmer deals with.  The artwork is what I would call stylized photos, and I loved them, though my wife didn't particularly care for it, but we agreed that it was appropriate for the theme.

After a few rounds we agreed that this is a fun, light game that we would play again.  It may not be what we play all night, but could see it being played often as a quick game, or as a prelude to another game.  In addition to being my first review, it led to another first for me; actually backing a kickstarter campaign.  I am not sure if it will succeed, but I definitely encourage you to check it out and back it; this is a great game at a reasonable price.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1776342422/crop-cycle

The Resistance - First Time

I recently had a chance to play The Resistance, and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

So, first off, I noticed that despite good intentions, I do not seem to be very good at blogging.  It has been a while since my last post; partly just because of the busyness of life, and partly due to that busyness cutting down on the amount of gaming, so less to talk about!

 A couple of weeks ago I had a bunch of guys over, with the intention of playing boardgames, but no particular games in mind.  One of them brought The Resistance, which a couple of them actually own, but only he (who brought the game) had ever played it.  Through the night we varied from 6 to 9 players.

This is a very different kind of game than I normally enjoy; I am usually about longer games with deep strategies.  Each game of The Resistance took 10 - 20 minutes, depending on the level of debate, and we managed to play a lot of rounds in one night.  It is also focused largely on your interaction with the other players, being able to convince them (whether truthful or not) of your position and strategy.  I think what really sold me is that there is a lot of strategy in the deduction of what happened in the previous mission, who was involved, and as a result who you can trust.  It probably also helped that everyone else was really into the game too, so (as far as I know) no one carried over any grudges from round to round when they were lied to.

We played first without the plot cards, and later with the plot cards.  We found that they added a little more strategy to the game, but also added some randomness that made it feel a little less strategic.  We also found that they greatly shifted the advantage towards the rebels.  Separately we found that balance was really good in the game, but depending on the rebel to spy ratio the balance seemed to shift somewhat.  With the plot cards, it seemed to shift too far towards the rebels.

I would definitely recommend this game when you have the right group together.  I can see it being a lot less fun if people can't leave the "sneakiness" behind after each round.  My wife and I are getting together with three other couples this weekend, and we are intending to play The Resistance.  All of the men were at that first night, and in general our wives are a little less into the games (and more into the social aspect), so I am interested to see how that changes the game.